Imaginary Eurovision Song Contest 2
The Imaginary Eurovision Song Contest 2 will be the 2nd edition of the Imaginary Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place for the first time in the United Kingdom, at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, following the country's first victory at the 1st contest in Aalborg with the song "Only Human", performed by Cheryl :The contest will consist of two semi-finals and a final scheduled to be held in Late November. Forty-three countries will participate in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia will return after their withdrawal from the previous edition and, for the first time since 2011, no country has withdrawn from the contest. Location Venue The venue of the contest, Manchester Arena, Manchester in the United Kingdom Following a bidding phase Manchester Arena was selected as the contest venue by host broadcaster Channel 5 (C5) and the Imaginary European Broadcasting Union (IEBU). Participating countriesedit The IEBU announced that a record 29 European Countries would be participating, 11 of which were from the previous contest alongside 6 from Asia, 2 from Oceania, 5 from Africa and 3 from the America's. Meaning 45 countries would be at the contest, this later led to the Contest being held at a later date in December to allow Channel 5 and Manchester more time to prepare. Here's a breakdown of the countries that will take part. From the Americas: ''' * United States of America * Canada * Chile '''From Africa: * South Africa * Nigeria * Algeria * Libya * Morocco From Oceania * New Zealand * Fiji From Asia: * Indonesia * India * Sri Lanka * Turkmenistan * China * Uzbekistan From Europe * United Kingdom * Denmark * Ireland * Sweden * Finland * Latvia * Estonia * Ukraine * Russia * Albania * Netherlands * Belgium * Northern Ireland * Iceland * Montengro * San Marino * Malta * Bulgaria * Italy * Spain * Portugal * Andorra * Austria * Germany * Faroe Islands * Lithuania * Kosovo * Liechtenstein * Slovakia Active EBU membersedit * Bosnia and Herzegovina - BHRT confirmed that Bosnia and Herzegovina would not debut. * Luxembourg – Steve Schmit, the Director of Programming at the Luxembourgish broadcaster (RTL) explained that Luxembourg were open to participation however until an act was brought forward to the Channel Participation would not occur. * Monaco – On 31 August 2017, Monégasque broadcaster TMC confirmed that Monaco would not participate in the Contest. * Turkey – It was thought that Turkey could be seen in the contest, however due to their current stance on some Issues many countries appealed for the IEBU license to wait until the country passes new laws. This was later agreed with the IEBU. * Kazakhstan – Khabar Agency was also thought to be at the contest, however they were not able to reach a financial agreement with the IEBU in time * Serbia- Serbia, also said they will not participate in the contest until Kosovo is declared as a part of Serbia. The IEBU refused to do so, therefore Serbian Broadcasters were stripped of their IEBU membership.